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Students at Ohio State University had just returned from a relaxing Thanksgiving break Monday morning, energized by their football team’s win over the rival University of Michigan. Suddenly, and without warning, chaos ensued when a car jumped the curb and struck several pedestrians on campus. A young student then jumped from the car, wielding a knife to attack, before being stopped by an on-campus police officer.

In situations like this, communication is absolutely vital. While the attack was occurring, OSU students living in off-campus apartment communities were confused and frightened. But for those apartment communities with the Communiqué App – like The View on High – student residents were immediately comforted knowing that their community was taking action to protect and secure their complex.

“Even though we are located very close to where the incident occurred, there was no way for us to know what was going on,” Lacey Teagarden, property manager of The View on High, said. “We felt it was best to urge our tenants to remain in our secure building and to not let anyone in until we got the okay.”

To keep residents informed and updated, The View on High staff members used Communiqué, a unified communication service and smartphone App from Epproach Communications. Using their very own View on High App, powered by Communiqué, staff were able to send out an urgent message – straight from their mobile phone – to student residents. Residents received a text, email and App notification.

“Knowing that every resident received that message was very reassuring!” Teagarden said.

Without the unified and mobile Communiqué service, the View on High property staff would waste critically valuable time determining the best medium and fastest method to send the message. Email lists would have to be retrieved, combined with messy and complicated texting services.

But with Communiqué, property staff were able to immediately push out an urgent message through a text, email and push notificationall at once. The mobility and ease-of-use helped to significantly speed up the process, and the many different mediums ensured that the maximum number of residents saw the message.

When chaos strikes, it is imperative that communication between property management and their residents is open and direct. Communiqué, from Epproach Communications, strives to simplify and enhance this communication, ensuring each resident is kept updated and informed at all times. Whether it’s a clubhouse pizza party, or a rare campus attack, Communiqué is there to open up those essential lines of communication for you and your residents.

To learn more about how to better inform your community with the best communication tools available, contact tim@communique.us.